Cortland Builds FRDS for Aker Wayfarer

Cortland has been awarded a patented BOB® 12×12 Fiber Rope by Rolls Royce for use on their next Fiber Rope Deployment System (FRDS), which is based on their patented Cable Traction Control Unit (CTCU) technology.

The FRDS system, which will have a single fall capacity of 150t, is being built for AKOFS Offshore (AKOFS) and will be deployed on the Aker Wayfarer working on a five year contract for Petrobras.

John Knudsen, Rolls-Royce President Commercial Marine, said in an earlier press release regarding the AKOFS award for the FRDS: “This a very important contract for Rolls-Royce and it shows that the offshore industry has taken yet another step in accepting the superior performance of synthetic fibre ropes for lifting operations in deep and ultra-deep waters.”

“This order,” stated Stuart Janke, VP of Global Sales for Cortland, “is the culmination of many years of development work by both Rolls Royce and Cortland, which have been followed by nearly 10 years of successful operations for both the Rolls Royce CTCU and Cortland’s BOB® 12×12 fiber rope working in deep water. This order proves that the reliability of BOB® rope in daily operations in deep water have been a huge success for our clients and is unmatched in the industry.”

Luiz Ranieri Bazzo, General Manager, AKOFS Offshore Ltda, stated, “We’ve been using Cortland’s fiber rope technology for the last five years. This was one element, among others, that contributed to being able to use a subsea equipment support vessel (SESV) to perform deep water installations rather than a traditional drilling ship.

“Cortland’s technology, service, and support have exceeded performance and our expectations; and the resulting benefits allow us to create more value for our customer.”